Scar Tissue
by tbf2
Summary: What if Kenny had managed to get himself and Ben out of the zombie infested alley, but couldn't get back to Lee afterwards? This is one of my takes on how their adventure would go if they had lived. Some drama, some humour, lots of swearing! Unplanned plot & in progress. Please review!
1. Chapter 1

I know the dialogue at the beginning isn't what it was in the game, I was just too lazy to look it up. Heheh...

**Part One**

The growling from the walkers drowned out nearly every other sound except for Ben's pained moans. Kenny and Lee stood back to back in defence as the two groups of walking corpses drew slowly but steadily nearer, enclosing the three men in the alley way. There was no way they could defend themselves properly without bullets or blunt force weapons.

"Please, don't let them get to me!" Ben begged from where he lay on the ground, a broken metal bar sticking out where it had been stabbed clean through his abdominal region. Blood soaked nearly every inch of the teenager's torso.

Kenny could barely look at the gory scene for long. "Lee, have you got any ammo?"

Lee searched himself, then shook his head quickly. "Nothing."

"Shit..."

Kenny's breaths were fast as he looked from Ben to Lee to the walkers and back, his heart hammering in his chest. Finally he turned to Lee with determination set in his eyes. There was no way he could just leave Ben here to be eaten alive. It was more cruel than murder. He had to defend the kid for as long as he could, and get Lee out of here so he could go back to Clementine.

"Get outta here, Lee, I got this!" Kenny shouted over the chilling groans of the walkers, swiping at one of them with his gun as it got too close for comfort.

Lee looked incredulously back at Kenny before shaking his head with quick, snappy movements. "No fucking way am I leaving you here alone, Ken!"

"You've got to, Lee! I have one bullet left. I'll try and draw them away while you get the fuck out of here!" Kenny glared as fiercely as he could at his best friend. Lee was the last person that he wanted to see die. The man had done so much, for everyone.

"No, Kenny! I'm not leaving you!" Lee stood his ground, continuing to stand between Kenny and the walkers that were now dangerously close, rotten teeth snapping hungrily.

Kenny felt a surge of fresh adrenaline rush through him, and he lunged at Lee, shoving him through the gate on his right and slamming the gate's door shut, locking it. Lee stared out at Kenny with hurt and shock in his conflicted dark eyes.

"Kenny... What the fuck, man!"

"You have to get back to Clementine, Lee. Please." Kenny leaned towards Lee through the black, rusty bars, trying to convey his need for Lee to get back to that little girl, the little girl who Lee loved, the little girl who needed saving. "Just go back to Omid and Christa!"

And with that, Kenny turned and charged at the walkers with a battle cry.

"KENNY!" Lee screamed, yanking at the locked gate with all his might as his friend disappeared from view.

Kenny fought tooth and nail, beating each walker's head in with the other end of his gun, and each one fell to the ground, one on top of the other. Kenny was seeing red, letting all the pent of rage inside of him rush through his veins until he was nothing more than a killing machine.

"Kenny!" Ben cried, terror in his voice. Kenny spun around, seeing a walker crawling towards Ben, only a couple feet away with its filthy, fleshy mouth hanging open, ready to take a large bite out of the helpless teenager.

"Kenny, ple-!" Ben's plead was cut off by the sound of Kenny shooting his only bullet at the walker's face, sending sticky blood spattering all over Ben's own face. The walker fell with a muted thud on top of Ben, who let out a loud whimper as it did.

"Shit," Kenny growled again. He looked around, noticing that he'd taken out quite a few walkers in his blind fit of anger, and there was some time for Kenny to crouch down next to Ben, toss his gun aside and haul the once-female walker off of him.

Ben was shaking, his face extremely pale from terror and loss of blood. His misty grey eyes were unfocused, looking unseeingly at the sky.

"Fuck, might be going into shock," Kenny muttered to himself. He was no doctor, but he knew the toll taken on Ben's body was likely enough to throw the teenager into death's grasp. He gently patted Ben's cheek, and the teenager's eyes shifted to Kenny's. Relief washed through the middle aged man at the clarity that pooled back into Ben's irises.

"I need to take you off of this bar, alright? I gotta do this, so we can get out of here."

"But it hurts so much.." Ben's hollow cheeks were already damp with tears from the earlier attempts at getting him off of the bar.

"Just brace yourself, kid, we don't got much time." Kenny slid his hands under Ben's torso, preparing to haul him off of the bar in one quick tug. The older man looked up into Ben's face. Ben gave a slight nod, and then squeezed his eyes shut tightly.

Kenny yanked with all his strength, and managed to get Ben half way off. A scream of agony tore through the teenager's lips, and Kenny flinched but pretended he hadn't heard it, before giving one final yank, and with a wet, fleshy sound, Ben was free of the bar. Ben had lost consciousness before he even touched the ground again, slumping down lifelessly.

Kenny scooped the kid into his arms and pulled him close to his chest, staying down on his knees and looking around wildly for an escape in the tight space. The walkers were drawing close again, but they didn't seem to notice Kenny and Ben quite yet.

Kenny's eyes scanned and re-scanned the area, finding no door, no path to get out of the alley. There was no way he could make it over the gate with Ben in tow.

"Think, Kenny, fuckin' think..." He begged himself. There had to be something- Aha!

A few feet down the alley, Kenny spotted a small, jagged hole through the wall of the building. It looked just big enough to fit through, and Kenny's heart hovered a little higher with hope.

Ben was bleeding out, fast, and the warm feeling of Ben's blood soaking into Kenny's shirt was enough to launch the older man into frantic action.

Kenny stood up, Ben held in his arms, and made a break for the gap in the wall. He fell to his knees again once he reached it, peering inside. It was dank in the building, there was nothing lighting the small room except for the sunset filtering in through a window. But the room was empty, and that was enough for Kenny to awkwardly maneuver Ben through the space, before crawling through it himself. The snarling of the walkers outside became muted by the wall.

"That was too fuckin' lucky," Kenny remarked, climbing to his feet and panting harshly as he looked around, squinting his eyes. His arms ached. Carrying Ben hadn't exactly been an easy task, even at a short distance. The room appeared to be a small kitchen. It was relatively tidy except for one drawer that lay upside down on the ground, forks and knives scattered artlessly about. There was a musky smell hanging in the air, but Kenny hardly noticed it. The smell of decay was always in the atmosphere, and usually drowned out all other scents.

He turned his attention back to Ben. The ground beneath the teenager was already a small puddle of dark red, and Ben's skin was deathly pale, a sheen of sweat coating his face. Kenny cursed quietly, picking Ben back up and laying him out on the small kitchen table. Ben's feet dangled off of the edge, and Kenny smirked humourlessly at the sight.

"Alright, first things first, gotta stem the blood flow." Kenny turned back to the small kitchen, rummaging through drawers and cupboards until he finally found a small stack of washing rags on a bottom shelf. When Kenny picked one up, it crackled dryly beneath his fingers.

"This'll have to do..." Kenny picked them all up and brought them back to the table, where Ben lay completely immobile and unresponsive, his chest barely rising and falling.

He did the best he could to clean up the fatal wound, and ripped up the sleeves from Ben's sweater to dress it. By the time he was done, every single rag was soaked red with blood.

Kenny checked around the bottom floor of the building where he and Ben were currently in hiding, but he didn't find any creepy crawlies waiting in the shadows. He had managed to scour the whole of the bottom floor, at least, and found the front door on the other side of the building. He didn't bother going anywhere else for the time being. He'd need backup in case anything tried to jump at him from behind.

Kenny, now sitting slumped over in an old rickety chair, glanced over at Ben. The boy was still lying completely still on the table. The strips of sweater sleeves that covered his wound slightly bulged from where they were underneath his plain white t-shirt, which could be seen because of his open sweater- well, vest now. Thankfully, Ben's chest was rising and falling evenly, but the breaths were shallow and scratchy coming out.

Kenny was worried, to say the very least, about whether Ben would survive this or not. With the wound he was currently bearing, Kenny didn't think living was likely for Ben. There was too much internal damage that Kenny had no idea how to repair.

They needed help, and badly. But a doctor wasn't just going to appear out of nowhere, and nor were food and weapons going to. Kenny would have to make do with a dying teenager and a dark, dusty kitchen.

.-.-.-.

Kenny was itching to do something.

He's sat and sat in his and Ben's makeshift hideout for the past night and some of the morning, just waiting for the teenager to wake up and for the walkers to disperse. It'd been a while without any treatment, much too long, and Kenny was surprised that Ben was even currently alive. All he knew was that the pole must not have impaled his stomach otherwise he'd definitely be dead. Probably went through one of his kidneys, something of the like.

But the kid was still breathing. Shallowly, but he was breathing. And just this fact was enough to keep Kenny from leaving him and escaping on his own. He would have probably been able to if he just left Ben behind, to be found and likely eaten.

But he couldn't abandon Ben. Ben was the only one he had now. He'd bothered to save him in the first place, so he wasn't just going to go half way. He had Ben's life in his hands, virtually, and he'd decided to forgive and save it.

Everyone had made mistakes among the group, even Lee, albeit small ones. And Ben seemed to get the most shit for his. Sure he fucked up a lot, but he was only a kid who'd lost his entire family in one go. Kenny ponders a little guiltily on the argument they'd had back at the house, back when the rest of the group was still around. Ben was only just becoming an adult, not even that. He wasn't gonna kiss the kid's sorry ass in any sense, but he'd forgiven him for giving the bandits those supplies, and indirectly causing Duck's death.

Kenny ran his tongue over his dry, cracked lips, staring vacantly out of the kitchen window. This wasn't the best place to be with a slowly dying youth. Kenny knew that the wound was extremely fatal and probably infected by this point. And it was doubtlessly causing a ton of pain. Frankly he'd been waiting for Ben's quiet breaths to falter and then die away into silence, but the kid was still fighting for every intake of oxygen, and so far had yet to cut out on Kenny.

The sound of fabric scraping against wood roused Kenny from his thoughts, and the older man jolted in his seat as he realized it was coming from the kitchen table. Kenny whirled around, nearly falling out of the chair, causing it to tilt dangerously to the side. He saw Ben's chronically still form, shifting on the table. And Ben was muttering, as if he were being woken from sleep.

Kenny was at the teenager's side before even he knew it. "Ben? Can ya hear me?" he demanded, watching intently as Ben's eyelids very faintly fluttered. He was briefly hesitant to touch Ben, for some reason, so he just gripped the edge of the table and waited for the kid to come around on his own.

Slowly, Ben's eyes cracked open. "Uhnn..." he said. Unable to keep from comforting him any longer, Kenny placed his hand over Ben's upper arm, heart beating with hope.

"Ben? Ya with me?" Kenny whispered, as suddenly the silence was deafening, and he found he could barely manage to speak over it.

"K...K...en...ny?" Ben murmured, staring hazily at the ceiling. His voice was riddled through with acute pain. Kenny swallowed dryly.

"Yeah, I'm right here, you with me Ben? Nod if you're with me," Kenny coached, hoping that Ben could hear what he was saying. Ben's head turned ever so slightly to the side, and his half-clouded eyes met with Kenny's. He hadn't moved his head an inch before his body suddenly seized up.

"Can't... move. Hurts..." The teenager panted through clenched teeth, and Kenny noticed that his hands were clenched into white-knuckled fists.

"Alright, then don't move Ben, s'okay if you can't, we're safe," Kenny reassured, glancing over to the kitchen, which was a useless gesture. Nothing there could help ease Ben's agony.

"Ben, you just gotta stay calm and stay with me, okay?" Kenny had no idea what he was doing, what he should be telling Ben to do, but it was better than just sitting around doing nothing. Probably.

"Okay..." Ben moaned airily, and his limbs all slowly but surely relaxed until his body was once again limp on the table. Kenny felt himself calm down a little bit along with the teenager. There wasn't anything he could do except wait for Ben to give some other sign that he was okay.

"Having the others with us would be amazing right about now..." Kenny muttered, hitching up Ben's shirt feebly until he could see the poorly dressed wound. It wasn't bleeding excessively anymore, miraculously. But still, there was a fucking gaping hole in the kid's side, that hadn't been treated for over 12 hours. Ben was living by sheer force of will. It's been the only helpful thing he's done in ages, Kenny thinks jokingly to himself, but it doesn't even make his lips twitch, let alone pull a laugh from him.

"Kenny... Where are we?" Ben asked, his voice cracking and giving out in odd places.

Kenny slightly tightened his grip on Ben's arm, in a silent demand for him to stop trying to talk. "Somewhere in this godforsaken city. I don't know. We lost the others when you fell from the balcony and got yourself shish kabobbed. They probably think we're dead."

Ben wheezed a little. "We've gotta get back-"

Kenny interrupted him. "I know, and we'll fuckin' try, Ben, but Jesus, do you not feel the hole through your fuckin' body?"

"S-sort of..." Ben lifted his head and cast a weak glance down at his chest, not even asking where his school sweater's sleeves had gone. "Where is it again?"

Kenny shook his head slowly. "I still can't believe you're alive right now, kid. In any case, you're right, we should probably leave. I was just waiting to see if... you were gonna be stickin' around in the waking world."

Ben's brow furrowed slightly. "Well... I am. I think." The teenager's head fell with a dull thud back onto the table as he said this, his face turning ghostly white.

Kenny sighed, a deep, weighed-down sigh. "I really damn hope so. Now let's get out of here."

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry for the wait! This chapter is relatively shorter. I'll make up for it in the next one.

**Part Two**

It had taken some time to get Ben to stand upright,and when he finally had gotten on his feet after many attempts, the teenager nearly toppled over onto the ground immediately with a yelp. Kenny caught him under his arms just before he could smash his head on the table.

"Don't force yourself, Ben," Kenny said worriedly, letting Ben lean on him until he could stand on his own again. Ben managed to stay on his feet this time, but had to lean very heavily on the kitchen table. His whole body was quivering as if he were cold, but Kenny knew otherwise. The pain must be unbearable, he thought sympathetically.

"Guh- God..." Ben spluttered, gripping the edge of the table so hard Kenny could hear the bones in his fingers crack.

"Think you can walk?" Kenny asked, uselessly. The answer was obvious. But they had to get out of there, and soon. While Kenny had kept watch over Ben and the world outside, he'd seen, thankfully, that the walkers had slowly evaporated from the area around their hideout, realizing their meal was out of reach and going off in search of less fortunate souls.

Kenny wasn't sure how long they had until they were either trapped again, or they starved to death inside the ironically supply-less kitchen.

"Here, put your arm around my shoulders," Kenny instructed, wrapping his own arm around Ben's torso in a hold that kept the teenager upright without having to cling to the table.

Ben carefully slid one arm over Kenny's shoulders, digging his blunted nails into Kenny's shoulder as hard as possible as he let out a hiss of pain. Ben clamped his free arm down on his stomach, trying to lessen the pain in his side.

Kenny winced, but carried on the procedure of walking over to the front door, which lead to the opposite alley that Ben had fallen into yesterday, and which Kenny had kept a constant, surveying watch on.

"Alright, here we go..." Kenny muttered, adjusting all of Ben's weight to his right side, then reaching out with his free hand and turning the knob, slowly pulling the door open. When the opening was big enough, both Kenny and Ben peered out with squinted eyes as the sun beat down on them, momentarily blinding.

Kenny cast his adjusting gaze down left, and then up right. Left looked as if it led deeper into the small buildings littering the area, and would be more dangerous if walkers were lurking around every corner. Right looked as if it lead to a wider, more central road, and would probably help them find their way out better than the former, likely more confusing path.

Right it was.

"Kenny... I d-don't know if I can do this..." Ben whispered in a strained voice, still glancing sluggishly but panickedly around.

"It's alright as long as you shut up and don't fall."

"Gee, thanks for the concern."

"We're doin' this now. We can't stay here a second longer with the injury you've got." Kenny could feel his patience dwindling as his heart began to beat faster.

"But Kenny-"

"I'm not gonna stand here in the doorway an' argue with you for fuck's sake!" Kenny snapped, but kept his voice at a low volume. So far he hadn't heard any growling or snapping teeth, but who knew how close one of them could be? There were still some lingering just on the other side of the house, scratching at the barrier that Kenny had managed to make out of the small fridge in the kitchen.

"... Alright, fine." Ben relented, his shoulders sagging a little and his bottom lip jutting out slightly in that pouting way of his that fondly annoyed Kenny to no end.

"Fine. Now hold on an' remember to put one foot in front of the other."

Despite himself, Kenny glanced at Ben, who looked like he wanted to say something snappy in reply, but the redhead kept his mouth shut and nodded once, the movement filled with fatigue.

Kenny took the first few steps out the door, and Ben stumbled along next to him at a more halting pace. They made their way down the alley without any problems. Kenny kept Ben close to the building wall, in case the teenager would need extra support, and also to keep the pair of them more hidden and out of plain view.

They stopped where the wall ended and the side of the road began. Kenny released Ben, who quickly caught his fall on the wall, sliding down it shakily. Kenny peered around the corner. To his relief, the street was virtually vacant, excepting some walkers in the near distance to the right, but they hadn't seen Kenny or Ben at all. Kenny turned back to Ben, who was glaring hotly up at him.

Kenny got Ben back onto his feet, ignoring the look, and they began their shuffle down the side of the road, being careful to stay quiet and out of sight. Ben was panting rather loudly, but it wasn't a noise loud enough to draw attention. Cold sweat shone on the teenager's pale, narrow face, which was drawn tight with discomfort. He looked exhausted, Kenny thought sympathetically. So was he. But there was no stopping now.

There was no denying that they needed to find help, and fast, or Ben really was going to die.

_Not on my watch he's not, _Kenny mentally growled, trying to convince himself.

"Kenny.." Ben called in a pained whisper, and when Kenny turned his head to look at Ben, he saw that the there were tears collecting at the corners of Ben's light gray eyes. It took the older man a moment to realize they were tears of anguish.

With a start, Kenny veered them over to the front entrance of a small store with an umbrella roof. It was a relief to be out of the sun. He gently set Ben down and stayed in a crouched position, clutching Ben's shoulder to reassure him.

"What's the matter?" he asked, trying to meet Ben's clouded eyes.

"It fucking hurts." Ben said in a deadpan voice. He seemed a lot more comfortable sitting than walking. "Kenny, you... you should just leave me here. Find Lee and them. I honestly don't see how you're going to be able to get me out of the city alive. You could make it on your own."

Ben looked up pleadingly at Kenny, who gave a small shake of his head.

"Oh, it's crossed my mind I'll assure you," Kenny said casually, sliding to a sit next to Ben. He gave a dry smirk. "I didn't even think you were gonna live through the day. But..."

He glanced over at Ben, who was watching Kenny with a tiny, contemplative frown, but still the redhead remained attentive as Kenny continued.

"Ben, I... you know I can't do that. We've been through too much together. You're... I... I just can't leave you to die. I still have some humanity in me."

Ben's small frown turned into an equally small smile.

Kenny smiled silently in return, then lightly shoved Ben's shoulder. "Alright, enough of this sappy shit. And wipe that stupid smirk off your face. We've still got a ways to go, this is no time for happiness."

Ben looked surprised for a moment, but managed to school his grin into a neutral expression, turning his gaze to the long road ahead.

.-.-.-.

They had to stop three more times after that. Ben was drenched in sweat by the time the two of them can catch a glimpse the edge of the city, which leads out to a less sheltered area.

"TH-that's not the waterfront..." Ben points out quietly, his hand still clutching Kenny's shoulder in a death grip, a grip that shows Kenny how much pain he's in. The trip wasn't exactly easy for Kenny either, though. Ben wasn't really carrying much of his weight, and he wasn't exactly as light as he looked.

It pains Kenny to push Ben along like this, but they have to keep moving while there's daylight. During their travel from the center of the city to the edge of it, they had searched for any possible ways to get to the rooftops again. Unfortunately there was no way they could try without making too much noise and drawing unwanted, undead attention.

Kenny huffed, hitching Ben up when he started to slip from his sort-of-secure hold. "I _know_, Ben. We couldn't risk going through the twists and turns of those houses. That's why we're going around. Got it?"

Ben caught his breath enough to mutter a reply, "Got it."

The two of them glanced at each other. Kenny apologetically, and Ben tiredly. That was the only conversation they'd had since their first pit stop.

The two of them went on trudging somberly along. They had begun to cross a street when the walker lurched towards them from the shadows, latching its bony fingers around Ben's upper arm and yanking the teenager out of Kenny's grasp with surprising strength.

Ben screamed, landing hard on his wounded side. The walked, also laying on the ground, began to crawl towards Ben, its bulging white eyes focused determinedly on Ben.

Kenny, who had been standing numbly in momentary shock, lunged at the walker, tackling it away from Ben in a moment of pure adrenaline. The walker struggled with Kenny until it was looming over him, mouth agape. Kenny could see down its disgusting throat as it leaned in for his shoulder. Kenny kept it at bay, pushing at it with all of his strength, letting out strained grunts.

"KENNY! Push it to the side!" Kenny vaguely heard Ben's frantic shout. He focused all his energy towards one of the walker's shoulders, then swung his fist at it, effectively knocking the undead man onto its side, where it continued to reach for him.

Kenny rolled away at the same time as Ben brought the heel of his foot down hard, landing it squarely in the center of the walker's temple. There was a wet, sickening_ crunch_, and the walker was a dead corpse once again.

Kenny struggled to his feet, breathing hard, heart pounding painfully. He looked up at Ben, who was staring down at the gory scene he had created, eyes wide. Slowly, the teenager looked up at Kenny. Then he fell to his knees, and more, less audible crunching was heard as a piece of skull was flattened under Ben's knee.

Kenny was by Ben's side as the teenager slumped onto his right side, clutching at his left one, small whimpers escaping from his mouth.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck fuck fuck..." Ben moaned, rocking his body from side to side, trying to stabilize the pain.

Kenny grabbed onto his shoulders, squeezing tight. He stared down at Ben concernedly. "Ben, it's okay, just walk it off, walk it off."

"Yeah, I'm okay..." Ben took a deep breath, his body going still again. Kenny felt his shoulders automatically relax. They stayed like that for a few moments, Kenny letting Ben recuperate.

"... Thanks. You saved my ass back there," Kenny said.

Ben nodded faintly. "Least I could do," he replied.

"To be honest, I think that's the most you could've done..."

"Yeah, alright, alright."

Kenny smirked, but gave Ben's shoulder a friendly pat. "You okay to go now?"

Ben sat up, wincing all the while. "Fuck... Have I got a choice?"

"Not really. But I can help you up. No need t' thank me or nothin'." Kenny offered Ben a hand, but Ben wasn't looking at him. His eyes were focused on something behind Kenny, and his face was slowly melding into terror.

Kenny spun around. Further down the street, a frighteningly large amount of walkers had begun to make their way towards the two men, slowly but steadily. More and more of them seemed to accumulate by the second, coming out of shadows or around corners, one even fell from a rooftop with a resounding _bang_.

"Oh, shit!" Ben exclaimed, scrambling to get to his feet. Kenny helped him up, holding him up by one arm.

"We have to run, Ben!"

Ben looked momentarily unsure, conflicted between the approaching slaughter fest and his own still fatal injury. "But-"

"JUST RUN!"

They both ran.

TBC


End file.
